150 
Transactions of the Society . 
It is with great satisfaction that I call your attention to the fact 
that in the cash statement for this year all the known liabilities have 
been met ; and, so far as I know, it is the first time for many years 
that the Treasurer has been able to state that there is not a single 
unpaid account owing by the Society. This result has been reached 
by painful effort ; investments have] been sold and expenses cut down 
in all directions, but I believe that the Society is now on a more 
satisfactory basis than has been the case for a long time past. 
It has been one of the chief aims of your Council during the past 
year to promote a real and lively interest in Microscopy at the several 
meetings of the Society. The marked improvement in the attendance 
of Fellows at the monthly meetings would seem to show that the 
endeavours of your Council have not been wholly in vain. 
Conjointly with the increased attendance at the meetings there 
has been an increase in the number of new Fellows elected during the 
past year ; but I wish nevertheless to urge on you that it is of the 
utmost importance that all should do what they can to swell the roll 
of Fellows, as the very existence of the Royal Microscopical Society 
depends upon it. 
All Microscopists, whether Fellows of this Society or not, will bo 
glad to hear that the gauge of the “ Society’s Screw ” has been per- 
fected and placed on a satisfactory and permanent basis. For the 
future, therefore, in the manufacture of screw tools it will be impos- 
sible to vary the gauge except between very small limits, and all 
accumulation of errors will be entirely prevented. 
The thanks of the Society are specially due to Mr. Conrad Beck 
for the trouble he has taken in this matter. 
I have to thank those Fellows who, in answer to my request of 
last year, have written expressing their views to me with regard to 
the future management of our Journal. The Journal has been a 
source of grave anxiety to the Council ; indeed it would have been 
financially impossible to continue the abstract index of Zoological and 
Botanical literature had not Mr. Bennett, Prof. Thomson, and Dr. 
Hebb generously come to the assistance of the Council. Even under 
the present more favourable circumstances, you will observe, if you 
will examine the balance sheet, that not only is the abstract index 
above referred to the largest item in our expenditure, but that it 
absorbs almost the whole of our income. It is, however, right to 
point out that much of the amount charged for printing in this year’s 
account ought really to have been included in the accounts for last 
ye*ar. Through the kindness of the gentlemen whom I have named, 
the annual cost of the Journal has been considerably reduced, but 
the Council will still have to consider in the immediate future how far 
they are justified in expending so much of the Society’s income on the 
one item of the Journal. It is not an easy question to determine 
what proportion of each number shall be devoted to Zoology and 
Botany, so that sufficient room shall be left for dealing adequately 
